Meerut:
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi today recalled history and asked the people to oust the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh just the way they had once freed the country from the clutches of the British rule.
"It is time for you to break free. Untie your hands which have been tied by successive governments in Uttar Pradesh. Vote for us for the sake of your own development. With your power, you ousted the British, throw them out also," Gandhi said while addressing a big public rally at the Ramlila Ground.
The time has come to show the same courage and back the Congress-RLD combine in UP, Rahul urged the crowd.
Selling the plank of change, the Nehru-Gandhi family scion said he did not believe in making a slew of promises.
"I will make only one promise. We will change the face of this state. We will bring development to the farm sector the way we did in Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala etc," he said.
Addressing the rally a day after Congress had flaunted technocrat Sam Pitroda - a Rajiv Gandhi find - as the new face of the Other Backward Class (OBC) in election-bound UP, Rahul today refrained from raising the caste issue.
Accompanied by RLD leader Ajit Singh and Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and MPs Jayant Chaudhary and Deepinder Hooda, Rahul stressed on people's power to usher change in his 15-minute speech.
"You alone have the power to change your destiny. You threw out the British. Now is the time to oust the current government in UP and elect the Congress-RLD combine. We promise we will change the face of this state," Rahul said, playing the development card at the well-attended rally.
Four to five activists of the UP Navnirman Sena, who were waving black flags as Rahul stood up to speak, were whisked away by police.